Adventure Overview
Players: Morton, Faust and Jazz.
Enemies: Space Monsters, Space Vampires, Jawas and much more.
Started: As the heroes landed on the asteroid.
Ended: With the capture of the Epsilon team.
The only other main feature of Frederique's basement was the generator humming in one corner. Putting this together with the fact that none of the three occupants of the room were wearing anything even remotely resembling a spacesuit, Morton could only assume that it must be a local atmospheric generator. This turned out to be the case, and Frederique confirmed it by asking why they were wearing those silly things. The mule said nothing, but Placido, for one, felt it was too dangerous for them to remove their suits, and suggested that they all simply go home instead. Ignoring this, the entire Epsilon team proceeded to remove their spacesuits with obvious relief, even as Frederique rambled on about the gold he intended to find under this asteroid. In fact, his suspicions of this gold's existance had been his motivation for importing all the wood to construct this prospector's cabin. Morton was very interested in all this talk of gold, and demanded to know if Frederique had actually found some, unlike at Gangsta's Paradise. Frederique's reply was a loud affirmative. He claimed to have found a jackpot over at the Crystal Canyon. Apparently, the name of this location was most appropriate. However, Frederique had been forced to abandon his secret mining camp there due to the sudden and scary arrival of a Space Vampire, who had begun haunting the canyon. Needless to say, this got Faust's undivided attention. And with the crystals to tempt Morton, it was easy for the mortician to convince the others that this area had to be explored. Placido Domingo did not think this was at all a good idea, and noted that the space vampire was extremely dangerous and scary. And had fangs. That was also scary! Needless to say, this did little to disuade the courageous heroes.
All this discussion was interrupted by the sounding of a harsh horn. This sent Frederique into a leaping frenzy, and almost caused the Mule to go crazy. Domingo quickly explained that certain portions of the local native population weren't pleased with the presence of humans in their territory. In particular, a band of fierce Tuskan raiders had previously expressed their rage through violence and vandalism. Their hunting horn signified that they were likely preparing to do so again, and would probably attack within the hour. Domingo had only one strategy to suggest against the Tuskans, and it involved going home. Morton intended to do no such thing. But he also had no intention of facing these raiders. He proposed instead to ignore them and proceed immediately to the Crystal Canyon, regardless of the dangers posed by the space vampire. Jazz, on the other hand, didn't think it was cool to abandon Frederique to the raiders. With a laugh, the old prospector in question declared that they would never be able to find his secret mining camp anyway without his guidance. However, he would be more than willing to guide them to the gold provided they help fight off the Tuskan raiders. This turned out to involve doing all the fighting, with the only contribution of Frederique and Placido being the offer of assistance of the Mule, who was apparently quite a fighting machine. As such, the two miners would stay in the basement while the raiders were dealt with.
Climbing back up to the main level, the heroes quickly decided their battle strategy. They nailed a board to the front door instead of the door that had once hung there, and positioned the Mule right nearby where its devastating kicks could be unleashed on any unsuspecting foes who got through the door. Meanwhile, the rest of the team would take up sniper positions on the second floor and roof of the structure. Faust and Jazz were soon crouched on this roof, the latter now armed with a pair of Jawa guns. Morton and Blank waited by the second-storey window. Though the security officer wasn't proficient with firearms, he was still willing to use the D6-Minigun that Morton offered him. The raiders were not long in coming; another blaring horn announced their arrival as they strode into view, all in single file to hide their true numbers. The Tuskans were predictably hideous, clad in dirty robes, with horns and spikes jutting from their faces. Some carried large muskets, while others seemed to be armed with clubs, but they were ALL angry and fierce, and seemed to communicate with each other through the use of belligerent grunts and gestures. As they neared the structure, they broke into a charge, still maintaining their single file formation. This was the cue for the snipers to open fire, and they did so. Some good luck allowed even Blank and Jazz to hit with their guns, though all these shots served to drop only a single Tuskan before the enemies reached the entrance to the cabin. It took only a few hits from the clubs for the boards to buckle and the raiders to gain access to the interior.
The Mule slowed the enemy advance with vicious kicks while the others rushed down to support it. Jazz even slide down the chimney in a stylish move that saw him reach the scene of the battle in seconds, though he was covered with soot in the process. Faust flew down from the roof to begin an assault on the rear of the single-file column. Once at close quarters, however, the Tuskans proved to be fierce opponents, and let loose with their muskets and clubs. Only the Mule seemed impervious to these attacks, as it seemed to go mad after being hit only once. This involved it jumping about wildly, making it almost impossible for any of the raiders to hit it, although they certainly tried. While they were distracted, Blank and Faust proceeded to chop them up swiftly with their weapons, while Morton unleashed some sloppy brawl action. Jazz let loose his mantis style, but didn't end up actually hitting the enemies too often. Despite the DJ's inability to hit, the enemies were soon all defeated. As the fog of war cleared, everyone could now see that there had been about a dozen Tuskan raiders. Since they were dead, they could no longer hide their numbers by going single-file. Frederique was most pleased with the defeat of the Tuskans, and promised to show them to his mining camp. Domingo still didn't think this was a good idea, and declared that he would stay in the cabin with the mule rather than mess with a space vampire. Ignoring the comments of his assistant, as usual, Hernandez added that he would give them something extra for their aid in the battle. That said, he pulled out a gleaming chunk of gold. Morton was quick to grab it and demand to know if it was real. Frederique couldn't really say if it was authentic, but one thing was clear: it was certainly fool's gold.
Now in the company of Frederique Hernandez, the group set off once more towards the Crystal Canyon. Frederique had donned an old-fashioned airtank, claiming it was far superior to one of those new-fangled spacesuits. And it didn't require you to make adjustments or risk cramping your hairstyle. This was an advantage that Jazz could really dig. But he couldn't dig his driving at the moment. In fact, the trip to the Canyon proved far longer than any other, with almost countless crashes. Annoyed with Jazz's inability to even manage a basic exploration, Morton grabbed the wheel to give it a try. Unfortunately, he was used to space flight, and thus totally unqualified for driving. Faust met with a similar lack of success. Even Blank gave it a shot, and he actually seemed to know how to drive. In the end, though, it all came back to Jazz who finally got the group to their destination with the style that only cruisin' could grant. As its name would imply, Crystal Canyon feature an extremely narrow pass through some steep rocky slopes. The sides of these slopes themselves were laced with crystals that seemed to glow as it reflected the light of the stars. There was no choice but to park the Explorer at the entrance to the canyon and proceed on foot. Even so, the extreme obstacle known as a narrow path still forced the team to walk in single-file. At least, noted Faust, this would hide their numbers from anyone who happened to be watching.
And someone was watching them. Faust was the first to spot this watcher. This man stood on one of the numerous ridges, clothed in an elegant black suit and a matching black cape. His skin was pale, and his hair was dark. Most noticeably of all, he wore no airtank of any sort, and his eyes seemed to glow with red malevolence. Even before noticing the sharp fangs protruding from the watcher's mouth, Faust was already sure that this was the space vampire that had claimed Cystal Canyon as its turf. For now, this vampire seemed content to stand on the ridge and make menacing gestures. However, he disappeared before Faust could point him out to the others. Closer inspection revealed that he was merely using his dark cape to camoflouge in with the night. But when confronted by a horde of Morton's bullets, the space vampire decided to truly disappear behind another ridge. Now more cautious than ever, the group proceeded along the narrow path, fully aware that the high ridges around them made this the perfect spot for an ambush. Suddenly recalling some of his own powers, Faust quickly used his necromancy to sense any undead that might be nearby. He felt none. On the other hand, he did hear sounds from above. Without hesitation, the mortician flew up to see what was going on. He wasn't surprised to find the space vampire attempting to push a large boulder down on the group below. Faust just had time to shout a warning before the large boulder rolled over the edge. Thanks to this warning, everyone was able to get out of the way of the falling boulder, though a dancing Frederique had to be pulled to safety by Morton.
Faust wasted no time in attacking the vampire. This action required him to land on the ridge and pull out his scythe, giving the enemy time to make the first move. Now that he was close to his foe, Faust could see that the space vampire seemed to be quite big and bulky, and this only made his menacing gestures more frightening. Fortunately, Faust's strong willpower would not allow him to be damaged by such an attack. Meanwhile, the others were still far below, and unable to provide much assistance to their companion. As such, Morton quickly began climbing up the side of the canyon, using the numerous jutting crystals as handholds. And pocketing those that came loose, no doubt. Jazz wasn't up for all that climbing, and instead started increasing the height on his elevator shoes. During all this, Faust's scythe had cut into the enemy's suit, but amazingly enough had not caused the vampire to bleed. Bragging about his own invincibility, the vampre responded by attempting to grab Faust. But he failed miserably, and instead ended up merely waving his arms about in an utterly useless and ridiculous gesture. It didn't take long for Morton to clamber up to the battle and join in. Around the same time, Jazz rose to the task of mounting the ridge, now standing on elevator shoes that could be considered little more than stilts. They made his kicks even more effective, though it was hard for him to avoid falling over after performing one. With the three Epsilon heroes in action, it didn't take long for the vampire to go down. In the process, a large gash was torn across the front of his suit revealing it to be truly nothing more than a disguised spacesuit, complete with an interior airtank. Removing the mask revealed the swarthy face of Placido Domingo, who snarled that he would have succeeded in scaring everyone away from the valuable supply of crystals had it not been for these meddling kids and their undead dog.
Now that the myths of the space vampire had been debunked, Frederique was free to lead the party to his 'secret' mining camp. Which didn't turn out to be much of a secret at all. In fact, it was right along the main path, and consisted of a couple tents and some old mining equipment. Still, Hernandez was palpably excited to see it, and declared once more that there was gold under this here asteroid. Within moments, Morton had searched out a pile of zirlithium shards. Considering the rarity of this almost invincible metal, this find was likely worth quite a bit of money. And Jazz wanted in on that action, quickly scooping up almost everything that Morton didn't get too first. Faust was still congratulating himself on his dealings with the vampire, and hadn't really noticed any of this. For his part, Blank did take one token shard, declaring that at one point in the past, he would have taken much more than that. Frederique didn't seem to care at all that they were taking the shards, declaring them useless next to the prospect of real gold! And he meant to get it! Leaving the old prospector to this task, and to deal with the beaten Placido Domingo, the heroes reutrned to their vehicle to continue their explorations. There was only one last detour to take, and Jazz had no intention of missing it.
It only took a little bit of exploring for the group to reach the Moonwalk. This area appeared to have once been a river, but clearly been dry for quite some time. Still, the erosion work once done by this water had left a scar on the asteroid's surface, and there was still some ice along its edges. There were also some shiny moonrocks sparkling at the bottom of the dry riverbed. This sight had Morton rushing from the Explorer, with Faust and Jazz not far behind. The pilot tried to run down into the riverbed, but ended up slipping on all the ice and rolling painfully the rest of the way to the bottom. Jazz had a different idea. Taking a cue from the name of this location, he began slowly moonwalking down towards the rocks. Obviously, such a technique easily allowed him to keep his balance, even on the most treacherous of ice. Faust just flew down, and consequently was the first to reach the gems. Blank only watched from above as the three were soon scrambling about, scouring the area for anything that sparkled. This activity was interrupted most abruptly by a loud roar and the sound of large wings flapping. The three heroes spun to see a large Star Drakhaan swooping towards them. It did not seem at all pleased to find them in its territory.
Faust was the first to react, and quickly flew back up to the Explorer. Jazz followed at more of a moonwalk pace. Morton tried to run across the slippery ice for the second time in as many minutes, and once again ended up falling. Now flat on his back, he found himself staring up at the maw of the Drakhaan, which had landed only several feet away and was snorting fire in his general direction. Not wanting to inspire a food reaction, Morton moved very slowly as he pulled out some food and tossed it to the other side of the riverbed. The Drakhaan's attention didn't waver, and its hungry eyes remained fixed on the pilot. Growing more than a bit desperate, Morton next pulled out his racoon tuque and tossed it to one side. This item had its intended effect, and the Drakhaan's head swung after, clearly suspecting that it was some sort of small, furry and doubtless tasty animal. This gave Morton a chance to scramble to his feet and attempt to dash out of the riverbed. However, the ice caused him to slip once again, and he found himself mired back in the same predicament he had escape moments before. Now ignoring the tuque, the monster prepared to let loose his fiery breath on Morton's duct-tapped spacesuit. Suddenly, not a moment too soon, a blast of energy sent the Drakhaan slamming against the other bank. The character who had fired this energy arrived on the scene moments later.
Space Ghost Even the raging Drakhaan was clearly no match for the smug Space Ghost, who sent the creature packing with another blast from his amazing bracers. Morton was relieved both to be alive and to be able to recover his racoon tuque. Looking inordinately pleased with himself, Space Ghost asked the group what they were up to on the asteroid. After all, it was quite a dangerous place for citizens to visit. The group decided to confide in Space Ghost, since he was, when all was said and done, a superhero. The hero admitted that he had seen signs of abnormal activity on this asteroid recently, and suspected that it might be behind the disappearance of Jan and Jace, whose ship had disappeared in this area not long ago. When Jazz mentioned the smoldering wreckage, Space Ghost decided he should go check that area out immediately. Morton had just one more question before the hero departed. He wanted to know where Space Ghost had gotten his power bracers, as they certainly seemed useful. With a laugh, Space Ghost confided that he had obtained them online. Of course, you had to be careful when bidding for them on The Bay, since there were many imitation bracers on the market. That said, Space Ghost flew away in the direction of the wreckage, leaving the group to proceed at last to their destination.
Race: Ghost?!
Occupation: Space Superhero
Space Ghost was a remarkable man. In fact, some weren't sure if he was a man at all. At times, he seemed almost like a poorly animated cartoon character. But this didn't stop him from possessing amazing powers, such as the ability to breath in space without the aid of any sort of airtank. Some have speculated that Space Ghost was likely even the one to invent the ability known as the Iron Lung, and his use of it would be enough even to make certain Zelzakians jealous. His other extraordinary powers included that of flight and his famous INVISO-POWER. The name says it all. Space Ghost was also a physically powerful man, dressed in a skintight white jumpsuit, complete with a cape and some weird black hood thing that hid most of his face. He also wore red bracers that seemed to contain incredible power, and could be used to blast any enemies, provided Space Ghost didn't decide to remove them when threatened with a flying timebomb. The heroes first encountered Space Ghost on the abandoned asteroid, where he had come to save his companions, Jan and Jace, who were always getting captured. He was also known to be allies with some caveman named Ugh, though he didn't bring this man with him into space for obvious reasons.
The trip from the Moonwalk to the destination co-ordinates was short and uneventful. As they got close, Blank suggested they should exit the vehicle and proceed on foot, thus lessening the chance of visual detection. And the loud 'stealth' music that Jazz had blaring from the Explorer wasn't really helpful either. They left the vehicle behind a hill and carefully made their way up to this elevated location. From this position, they could peek down on their destination, which turned out to be another large crater, even bigger than the one they had landed in. It showed signs of once having been a monster's hive, with many bones and organic remains spread within it. However, the signs of human habitation were much more recent. A guard tower was positioned near the center of the crater, with a searchlight roving over the surrounding area. In addition, the large cavern set into one of the crater's walls was now covered by a large door. Jazz was quick to note that there was no logo or insignia on this door to indicate to what organization it might belong. But there were some guards patrolling nearby. Although it was hard to be sure from this distance, they seemed to be equipped with cyber-suits and rifles. This only served to inflame the desires of the heroes to obtain cyber-suits, which could not only provide air without the possibility of being easily destroyed, but also offered significant protection from enemy attacks.
Regardless, the team was clearly going to need to get much closer before they could really discover anything about this mysterious occupying force. As such, they decided that they would need to get down into the crater. Once there, they could search its interior for any other entrances to this complex. Getting down without attracting attention was difficult, especially since the spacesuits weren't really designed to be provide any sort of camoflouge. But with some moonwalking and a fair bit of good luck, the team wasn't able to make it to the bottom without being discovered. Now it was just a matter of avoiding the circling spotlight and the patrol while searching for an entrance. However, before they really applied themselves to this task, Morton's sharply attuned ears picked up the sounds of ships approaching fast. After quick words of warning, the group concealed themselves behind some rocks, though it took some convincing to persuade Faust that plain sight wasn't the best hiding spot under these circumstances. Moments after the group had concealed themselves, a trio of black Falcon-Xs swooped into the crater. The large door slowly creaked open, and the three ships flew inside. Morton was immediately suspicious. While there were certainly more than three black Falcon-Xs in the galaxy, there weren't nearly so many active in this sector. But he needed a closer look to complete confirm his suspicions. Noting that the hatch seemed to be very slow in closing, Faust suggested they should slip inside now and investigate the interior of the base. Thanks to his flight ability, and Jazz's super-running, thr group was able to get into the base just as the hatch finally closed, though doing so required them to pull along the much less mobile Blank and Morton.
Once past the giant door, the group found themselves within a very extensive hangar, packed with ships and supplies. And save for the three Falcon-X that had just landed at the other end of the extensive bay, all the ships were Drakhaan Fighters, marked with the emblem of the Spheran Red Wings. There were also many Spherans in the bay, bustling about as they maintained their ship or stacked supplies. Most still wore cyber-suits, and almost all were carrying lazer rifles. Desperately seeking to avoid detection, the heroes quickly ducked into a side passage that led away from the hangar. As soon as they were out of sight, they felt safe enough to remove their spacesuits. They obviously couldn't afford to have them destroyed in any events to come, since they would need them to get back to the Explorer. And given that this base had its own atmospheric generator, wearing the suits inside would have been unnecessary and unconstitutional in any case. Putting Blank into the lead, the party proceeded down the hallway until it ended with a closed door. Opening it without being detected by anyone inside would obviously be most difficult. The plan was simple; Blank would kick open the door, after which the others would leap in and secure the area. It sounded good in theory. Just like communism. But in practice, it didn't work quite as well as the heroes anticipated. Blank was able to kick the door open, but the whole securing part of the plan sort of fell apart when Morton and Jazz lept inside and found the room occupied by some old enemies.
The room they had entered appeared to be some sort of pilot's locker room. And there were three pilots in it. The first had the literal appearance of a wolf, with a black flightsuit and eyepatch. He was flanked by a lizard man and a whiny generic guy, both in silver flightsuits. It was the Star Wolf team. With all haste, the Epsilon contingent rushed into the room, slamming the door behind them. Star Wolf didn't seem overly surprised to see them, and declared to Morton that they would now get a chance to fight without ships to get in the way. That said, he drew out a small laser pistol and prepared for battle. Andrew also shouted his defiance, declaring that his Uncle Andross would wreak revenge on anyone who hit him. The Great Leon attempted to blend in with the wall and disappear, but instead found himself facing Faust, Frankenstein and Blank. Jazz was all about dealing with Andrew, while Morton just had to go one on one with Star Wolf. This proved to be most painful. While the heroic pilot let loose with a barrage from his autoblaster, Star Wolf's fast reflexes allowed him to catch the bullets. On the other hand, Morton had no way of blocking Wolf's retaliatory laser blast. Jazz was in similarly dire situation. Andrew had pulled out a PK-97, and was proceeding to blast at the DJ, whose Kung-Fu didn't seem to be a match for a good blaster, even with Mantis style. However, the Great Leon was finding himself faced with a great challenge. His psychics inflicted some minor damage on Blank, but in return he found himself chopped and bitten , putting him on the brink of death within a single round. With the threat of Leon effectively eliminated, Blank and Faust were able to turn their attention on Star Wolf and Andrew.
Before the battle could continue, the door through which the heroes had entered burst open. A half dozen Spheran soldiers rushed in, lazer rifles aimed and ready. And leading them was someone that Morton and Faust both recognised: Captain Ataris, leader of the Red Wings. Ataris first noted his displeasure with the presence of intruders in his base. After all, the asteroid belt was clearly Spheran jurisdiction, and Starfleet had no place sending its agents here. Jazz retaliated that the Spherans had no place working with space pirates, and added that they should all just learn to get along. Peace, man. Mostly ignoring Jazz's flippant comments, Ataris suggested they drop their weapons and surrender if any of them intended to live past this encounter. Faced with such overwhelming odds, the heroes had no choice to do so, though not without some higly symbolic defiance. Morton declared that this would cause an interplanetary incident, and could even be a prelude for war. Either Captain Ataris was a very good actor, or this prospect didn't bother him much at all. At his gesture, the Red Wings moved forward to apprehend the heroes. Within moments, the Epsilon team had been restrained and knocked out. What will become of them? Only time and the next adventure can tell...
Return to The Deep Space Main Page